The Journal of Chemical Physics
Coherent population transfer and dark resonances in SO2
Thomas Halfmann, K. Bergmann
Abstract
Highly efficient population transfer between the (0,0,0) and the (9,1,0) vibrational levels of the electronic ground state X̃ 1A1 of SO2 is demonstrated. The process relies on stimulated Raman scattering with adiabatic passage induced by two suitably delayed ultraviolet laser pulses with nearly transform-limited bandwidth. A transfer efficiency of 100% is achieved. The associated dark resonance is observed. Properties of the latter are compared for delayed and fully overlapping pulses.